O2 users lose access to BT Openzone hotspots

by6/3/2013 10:24:03 AM

6/3/2013 10:24:03 AM

As of 1 July, O2 customers will no longer be able to access BT Openzone hotspots for Wi-Fi access. On paper, that should mean a loss of up to four million hotspots. But dig deep and you'll find that O2 customers never had access to the full set anyway.

But the principle is the same. From the start of next month, O2 customers will not be able to connect to a BT Wi-Fi site, with the network even setting up a webpage on its site informing customers just how to avoid trying to connect to a BT site. There's no going back here.

O2 sites are still available, which have been steadily building since January 2011, with around 8,000 hotspots available right now. A drop in the ocean compared to the four million BT zones.

However, O2 has since released a statement saying its customers never had access to all BT W-Fi zones, despite previous statements saying as such. In reality, the number able to be used was 65,000 - a significant loss, but not as much as the four million talked about initially.

No consolation if you were a regular with one of the 65,000, but with O2's own network growing, the pain might be fairly short-lived.